


I, Sparkeater

by eerian_sadow



Series: Sparkeaters and Other Walking Dead [4]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Character Death, Energy Vampirism, M/M, Other, soul vore, undead robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-22
Updated: 2012-04-22
Packaged: 2017-11-04 03:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/389452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ironhide falls in combat and wakes as... something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I, Sparkeater

**Author's Note:**

> written for the 2012 round of dark_fest on livejournal. this piece is a secondary, pseudo-sequel to a piece written last October called "Night Terrors". some backstory is established in the previous piece, but is unnecessary to understand this story.

He woke in agony, every molecule of his body screaming in pain as he fought his way to consciousness. His processor registered severe damage-- _dead, he was dead, why wasn't he dead?_ \--and dangerously depleted fuel stores. He couldn't see, and he knew that wasn't right; they hadn't taken his optics before he fell. 

Panic flared in his processor and he flailed his arms outward, hoping to find the source of his pain and blindness. One arm struck hard metal and turned his attention toward the surface he had found. Mindlessly he began hammering his fists against it, beating until the metal buckled and tore.

He felt some kind of small relief as light seeped through the first of the small cracks, but he didn't let up his assault. He had to be free, lest he die.

_Already dead, already dead, why was he still here?_

The cracks in the metal widened under his continued assault, splitting further apart and letting in more light. The metal tore, stressed to its breaking point and he shoved a hand through the largest of the tears and _pulled_ on the edge, making a hole large enough for him to climb out of. There were new prickles of pain against his plating as he forced his way through the hole, but he ignored them as he fell into the light and freedom.

"Ironhide, what--?!"

He ignored the voice, though he knew it well. He was free now, and could focus on finding energy to relieve the agony crawling through his systems. He extended his sensors, searching, and turned and leaped on an approaching mech before he was aware that he had moved.

"Ironhide, no!" Voices shouted at him, but he was oblivious, burying his face in the mech's chest plates and seeking out energy. He pulled the plating apart, exposing bright blue light to the world and buried his face against the pulsing energy source. Appendages he _knew_ he hadn't had before extended from his mouth, long and slender, and stabbed into the spark below him.

He shuddered with visceral pleasure as he began pulling energy into his starving systems. The mech below him screamed.

He fed until strong hands wrapped around his shoulders and jerked him backward. His systems screamed in protest; he wasn't full yet and his prey was being stolen from him. He lashed out in retaliation, trying to strike his assailant, but the mech holding him-- _energy, energy here, feed, **feed!**_ \--was at the wrong angle for his strikes to land.

"Peace, Ironhide." The voice he knew again, crooning soothingly. "Let us help you."

Help. Yes, they could help. He only needed energy and they could give him that. If the voice would just _let go_ , he could feed and that would help. He stilled, hoping the voice would understand and loosen his hold.

"That's right, Ironhide. Come away from Sideswipe." The voice stayed calm and soothing, and he wanted to do what he was asked despite the hunger still gnawing its way through his systems. The voice took a step backward and he let himself be led away from his prey. Away from Sideswipe-- _he knew Sideswipe, had practically raised Sideswipe and he had just tried to kill Sideswipe, what was wrong with him?!_

"Optimus, help me!" His voice was broken and laced with static, sounding wrong even to his own audios.

"I will, old friend. Tell me what you need." The voice-- _Optimus_ \--continued in that soothing croon. It was enough, almost, to sooth his hunger into submission.

"Hungry." Fresh pain crawled along his circuits at the pronouncement and he twitched in Optimus' hold. "So hungry."

"Then feed here." He felt himself being turned, Optimus' strong hands never actually letting go, simply shifting him so that he was facing the larger mech. His optics were drawn immediately to the spark Optimus was exposing to him and he would have lunged forward immediately if those strong hands had not held him back.

He whimpered with want and hunger and pain.

"Shh..." Optimus knelt slowly, lowering them carefully to the ground. Once they were settled, the larger mech drew him close. He settled gently against Optimus' chest plates, rather than the frantic grasping and tearing his hunger demanded. Optimus held him there-- _so close, like a lover, why did this have to happen after he was dead?_ \--and let his instincts take over. "Take what you need from me, old friend. Leave the young ones their lives."

With an energy source so close, he couldn't have fought his instincts if he wanted. His feeding appendages stabbed into the unshielded spark without any prompting and began siphoning the energy into his systems. Optimus moaned as the energy was drawn away from his very essence, a sound he echoed a moment later as the energy hit his systems in a potent rush.

He saw things as he fed, images of Cybertron in places he had never been or the faces of mechs he had never known. He remembered conversations he had never had, and felt the first touch of a lover from a femme he had never linked to. He felt sorrow that was not his own over events he had never known were happening.

And as he fed, he realized he was seeing-- _taking, draining, **stealing**_ \--Optimus' life.

He saw the moment they first met from the opposite side, a young Prime terrified of his new position desperately seeking any warrior who could help turn the tide of battle in his favor and praying that he was not misplacing his trust in the mech before him. He saw the first, bloody battle and felt the pain of each loss. 

He drowned in the Prime's sorrow, even as he felt the hope and sense of duty that kept him moving forward.

Optimus moaned again as the feeding appendages retracted, and it was not a sound of pain. Their optics met, blue staring into violet, and he trembled at what he saw.

With a devastated cry, Ironhide fled in the face of so much pain directed at him.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Ironhide crouched in the farthest corner of an abandoned warehouse--the first place he could find that was marginally safe and _away_ from Prime. He trembled, processor racing with the knowledge of what he had done.

If he had fed for a few minutes longer, Optimus would be dead. 

It didn't matter that Optimus had been willing, that he had offered his spark to him as if they were merely exchanging data. It didn't matter that he had been acting purely on his new instincts or that devouring sparks was now what was required for his own survival. It didn't matter that he hadn't wanted to kill Optimus.

He couldn't escape the fact that he had almost done it. 

The former Autobot-- _can't go back, can't endanger them, can't go back_ \--curled in on himself and keened in despair.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The sound of the warehouse's doors being rolled back jolted Ironhide out of a light sleep mode. He sprung to his feet, reflexively activating his cannons and pointing them at the door, as Optimus stepped inside. 

"Ironhide." The Prime stopped just past the doors and spread his hands non-threateningly. 

"You followed me!" Optimus flinched at Ironhide's accusation.

"I was concerned. I was afraid your mental state would leave you as an easy target for the Decepticons."

The weapons master lowered his cannons. "And what else could they do to me now?"

"The old texts had ways to kill a Spark Eater."

"Then let them kill me!" Ironhide's gaze fell from Optimus and he stared at the floor sadly. "Better that than living as... this."

"If that is your wish." The Prime sighed sadly and turned away. "I had hoped that I had not lost another friend to this war."

Ironhide didn't move, didn't speak, as Optimus walked away. It was better like this. Better that he wasn't with them, so they wouldn't become victims of his hunger again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

There were Cybertronians nearby. He could smell them now, in a way he couldn't before. They smelled like prey, like the fuel they would become in order to keep him alive. Starscream had described it that way, when he had taunted his prisoners so long ago.

In hindsight, he should have known that the Seeker was grooming them to be some sort of twisted offspring. The bragging had been his way of teaching them the things they would need to survive after the alterations he had made to their sparks and frames. He had wanted them to live on, after they glutted themselves on the sparks of their allies during that uncontrollable first feeding.

Now those lessons served him well as he hunted Decepticons.

Ironhide stalked forward, on feet that were impossibly silent for his build, with systems running in a stealth mode he hadn't had before he died. The prey-scent grew stronger as he drew closer and he felt the hunger begin to rise, though his energy levels were well above half-full.

Somemech would die tonight.

The Decepticons didn't even look up as he leaped at them, too absorbed in raiding a human fuel station to hear the scrape of feet or straining of joints as he moved. He assessed the warriors in front of him even as he took down the first. 

Three mechs, obviously young and fairly inexperienced. Likely a product of whatever disturbing breeding experiments the Fallen had performed while he was in command of the Decepticons. The first fell under him like a lead weight and the others broke and ran, too afraid or too under fueled to defend their comrade.

His instincts screamed at him to pursue-- _hunt, chase, catch, feed!_ \--but he focused on the Decepticon below him instead. Sating the hunger and prevent himself from preying on the remaining Autobots was more important than giving in to the programming that wanted a chase.

The young mech trembled in Ironhide's grasp and the comm channels were filled with frantic demands for his companions to come back. He was obviously terrified, but he seemed determined not to show it.

Ironhide felt a moment of regret for what he was about to do. "It won't hurt, if you let me in."

"I am not afraid of pain!" The Decepticon hissed, pulling his plating in close against his protoform.

The Spark Eater nodded. "No warrior is."

The young mech screamed as Ironhide pried his chest plates apart, revealing the spark underneath. He leaned down and released his feeding appendages, piercing the condensed energy in one quick strike. The Decepticon shuddered as the Spark Eater began drawing energy in, the orb of his spark flickering and visibly weakening already.

The young mech's life flashed across his processor as he fed. He felt the Decepticon's traumatic birth from the hatching pods inside the Fallen's ship, torn out of it's growth compounds far too early but too stubborn to offline. He was upgraded into an adult frame far too quickly, barely understanding the mechanics of the huge body before being thrust into battle in the desert sands of Earth. He felt the young mech's fear at the rampant destruction around him, and his sorrow as his batch brothers died around him. Ironhide shared his relief when the battle was over and the young mech remained alongside two of his brothers.

He fled with them across the desert when no re-grouping orders were issued, running until they reached their current location. He hid and scavenged with them, finding a way to somehow still survive while staying off the Autobots' radar.

He drowned for a moment in the Decepticon's fear as the Autobot assaulted him. 

_Fear, fear. Master save me, I'm afraid! Brothers come back, don't leave me alone! Please, i'mafraididon'twanttodiecomeback!_

The Decepticon was keening, crying and begging for his brothers to return as the last of his spark was absorbed into Ironhide's feeders. A moment later, the sound faded away as the young mech's systems shut down and his processor deactivated.

The old mech bowed his head in mourning for a moment for the loss of such a young life. Then he powered up his cannons and fired on the body until it was nothing more than shredded metal and half-recognizable components. There would be no empty left behind to harass the living this night.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I know what happened last night.” 

Ironhide was only vaguely surprised to come out of sleep mode to Optimus’ voice again. “Come to kill me, then?”

“No. I offered my spark to you before, to protect Sideswipe. I would offer it again to protect you from yourself.”

The Spark Eater’s feeding protocols activated abruptly at the memory of feeding from Optimus before. The hunger woke along with them, despite his nearly full energy reserves. He wanted to feed from the Prime again, to feel that rush of age and power and share memories that stretched back to long before the war. He wanted to consume, until his body was so overcharged he could hold no more and he had to go into stasis to keep from shorting out. 

“I’ll kill you,” he replied softly.

“You did not, when you were too unaware of yourself to have control.” Optimus stepped closer to him, parting his chest plates in invitation. “I trust you not to now, old friend.”

Ironhide whimpered, a sound full of need and want. Despite what his rational processor thought, he gave in to the demands of his feeding protocols and rose from the floor. He was at the Prime’s side in a moment, nuzzling his face against the larger mech’s spark. Optimus wrapped his arms around the Spark Eater and held him close.

“Take what you need,” the Prime instructed gently.

Even as Ironhide pierced Optimus’ spark with his feeders, he prayed that someone would offline him before he did permanent damage to his Prime. Then he was lost in the sensations of feeding, drowning in the love and forgiveness Optimus held for him.


End file.
